Film envelope



Nov. 22, 1938. N, P. BILLING ET AL F-ILM ENVELOPE Filed Aug. 4, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l Ziwen fora.

#Mwn MM, W.

Xwu'd,

Nov, 22, 1938. N, P. BILLING ET AL FILM ENVELOPE Filed Aug. 4, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 10- nTO 1 6 Patented Nov. 22, 1938 FILM ENVELOPE Noel Pemberton Billing, London, and Arthur George Willis, Richmond, Surrey, England; said Willis assignor to said Billing Application August 4, 1937, Serial No. 157,441 In Great Britain August 18, 1936 8 Claims.

This invention consists in improvements in or relating to photographic film packages of the type comprising inner and outer envelopes, the outer one of which is formed with a mask through which the film or other light-sensitive material may be exposed when the envelopes are separated apart, as for instance in a construction somewhat similar to that described in prior United States Letters Patent Nos. 2,017,709 and 2,070,778 of Noel Pemberton Billing, issued October 15, 1935, and February 16, 1937, respectively.

The present invention comprises in combina- F tion inner and outer envelopes of the type referred to, a flexible tongue on one of them and a loop on the other through which the tongue will slide as the envelopes are moved relatively to one another as for example when they are separated for the purpose of exposure.

It is within the invention, however, to construct the envelope in such a manner that the slot or loop is provided in the outer envelope and the tongue on the inner envelope, in which case the slot will be conveniently situated near the upper edge of the outer envelope.

In describing the invention the upper edge of the outer envelope will be considered as that edge or margin at the opening of the envelope through which the inner envelope is entered and this 30 edge will generally be uppermost in the use of the package in a camera. The lower edge of the inner envelope will be considered as that edge which is remote from the upper edge of the outer envelope when the two are closed one into 35 the other.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood two preferred constructions will now be described with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 illustrates the blank from which, in one form of the invention, the outer envelope is formed.

' Figures 2 to 5 illustrate successive steps in the assemblage of the package, Figure 5 being a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4,

Figure 6 is an unfolded view of a blank from which the second form of the outer envelope is produced in accordance with the modification of the invention aforesaid, and

.55; In the first construction illustrated in Figures Figures 7 to 10 illustrate successive steps in the 1 to 5, the inner envelope 28 is a plain envelope open only at its lower end but having one wall longer than the others to constitute a flap 2i that can be turned over the back of that wall, as clearly shown in Figure 5, leaving the opening or mouth 22 of the inner envelope unobstructed. The inner envelope otherwise may be formed in any preferred manner and adhesive or overlapping and interlocking flaps may be employed to complete the folding and closure of the inner envelope in the manner well known and well understood. At the line of folding of the flap 2! a slot 23 is formed of a dimension and for a purpose to be described below.

The outer envelope comprises four panels 24, 25, 2S and 27 and in the panel 25, an aperture 28 is provided to constitute a mask through which the surface of a sensitized sheet of material 29 will be exposed when the inner envelope is withdrawn. A tongue 30, which is the tongue referred to above, extends from the panel 26 and on the panel 27 there is secured, by means of an adhesive, a thickened strip or distance piece 3!.

In assembling the package with a sheet of sensitive material in place, the latter, i. e. the sheet 29, is placed face upward on the flap 27 so that one edge bears against the lower edge (as seen in Figure l) of the spacing strip 3| and the free end of the panel 27 is employed as a fiap 53 and is folded about the fold-line 32 to overlie the sensitive material. The thickness of strip 35 is made equal to the combined thickness of the sensitive material 29 and of the folded-over flap 33.

The inner envelope is then slidingly passed over the fiap 27 so as to enclose the strip 29, and the panel 27 together along the fold-line 34 to overlie panel 25. Prior to this, a flap 35 at the lower margin of the mask is folded over upon itself downwards, first along the fold-line 36 and then along the fold-line 37 so as to provide a flat roll of material, indicated at 38 in Figure 5, serving as a light-excluding pad to engage the lower edge of the adjacent surface of the inner envelope.

By turning over the panel 27 to overlie panel 25, corner fillets 39 and 40 are also folded along the line 34 and the next operation is to fold over panel 26 along fold-line 5!. As the panel 26 is folded over, the tongue 39 is passed through slot 23 at the fold of flap 2i of the inner envelope and following this, panel 24 is folded to overlie panel 25. The two fillets 39 and 40 form efficient lightexcluding means at the corners of the envelope. The panel 24 can be closed firmly in position either by adhesive to secure it to the panel 26 or by means of an adhesive label 63 pasted over the whole of the exterior of the rear face of the package. Before applying such a label the extremity of the tongue 30 will be folded back along foldline 12 to overlie the rear face of the outer envelope and can be secured in the turned-over position by the label and sealed against accidental displacement thereby.

It will be observed that in this construction, the tongue is positioned wholly within the outer envelope and when it is desired to open the package it is only necessary to remove the label or any other adhesive means which is employed to secure the free end of the tongue 30 whereafter, when the package has been inserted in the camera, the inner envelope can be withdrawn by pulling it outwardly from the upper open end of the outer envelope and in so doing, the slot 23 will travel upwardly along tongue 30, but will never be disengaged therefrom. Moreover when the slot 23 reaches the root of tongue 30 where it is folded over along the fold-line 43, further withdrawal of the inner envelope will be prevented thus avoiding any chance of a complete separation of the two envelopes. Above the fold-line 43 is an enlarged root portion of tongue 39 having sloping shoulders 44 to enable the root portion to be accommodated conveniently within the envelope. The depth of the root portion, which is indicated by the reference numeral 45, between the fold-line 43 and the commencement of the narrow tongue portion 30 serves to adjust the limit of maximum separation of the inner and outer envelopes and this dimension can be adjusted to suit any desired requirements.

In the construction shown in Figures 6 to 9 the parts are similar to those of the previous construction with the main exception that in this case instead of a tongue 30 provided on the outer envelope a tongue 60 is now formed to extend from the lower edge of the rear wall of the inner envelope. Otherwise, except for replacement of flap 2i by tongue 60 the inner envelope is similar to that already described.

The outer envelope has as before four panels 24, 25, 26 and 2?, an aperture 28 being provided as in the previous construction in panel 25. Flap is folded over in this case only as a single fold along fold-line 3! and each of the side panels 24 and 26 has a lower flap 54 while the panel 25 has also an upper flap 45 similar to that provided at the root of the tongue 30 of the previous form.

The manner of assemblage is similar in the main to that already described, with the exception that in this case the light-sensitive strip 29 is held at one edge in the fold 34 and at its opposite edge by a turned-over tongue portion 53 which does not extend the full width of panel 21 as does the portion 33 in Figures 1 to 5.

In closing the panels 24 and 26, after folding over panel 2'! to overlie panel 25 and sliding the inner envelope into position over panel 21, the tongue 60 is folded upwardly along fold-line GI and is inserted through a slot 62 at the fold of tongue 45 in panel 26. It will be understood that flap 35 will have been turned over before panel 25 is closed over on to the rear wall of the inner envelope and subsequently flaps 54, first on panel 26 and then on panel 24 are turned over the front lower margin of panel 25 and are secured in position, preferably by an adhesive.

A label may be stuck on to the rear surface of the package so as to seal the free end of tongue 60 where it projects, as shown in Figures 8, 9 and 10, through slot 62, to prevent accidental access to the tongue, this label being removed prior to exposure.

When the inner envelope is withdrawn to such an extent that the root of tongue 60, at the fold 6|, reaches slot 62, no further withdrawal of the envelope is possible and the extent to which the two envelopes can be separated-is therefore controlled by the height of slot 62 in the dimension of the package reckoned from the lower edge thereof.

As in the case of the first construction, that illustrated in Figures 6 to 101's also such that the tongue will lie wholly within the outer envelope.

It must be realized that Figures 5 and 10 indicate sectional views in a schematic manner with all the various layers of the package sepa rated apart in order to show them clearly. In practice, however, the package will be very thin and successive layers will be more or less in rubbing contact flat against one another.

In both constructions described, the inner envelope forms a complete enclosure for the lightsensitive material 29 when the package is closed and consequently pressure on opposite lateral edges of the package, such as would tend to bulge the margins of the masked opening 28.

will have no ill effect on the material 29 owing 1 to its complete enclosure in the inner envelope.

We claim:

1. A photographic package comprising inner and outer envelopes whereof the outer envelope comprises four panels in one of which is a masked opening over which the other panels are folded in succession, a tongue extending from the edge of an open end of the inner envelope and turned upwardly to extend through a slot in one of the overlying panels of the outer envelope at a position remote from the open edge of the inner envelope when the two envelopes are closed together, a turned in flap on the outer envelope affording a fold in which the slot is formed, and closure flaps on the outermost panels of the outer envelope to hold them in position.

2. A film package comprising inner and outer envelopes whereof the outer envelope consists of four flaps in one of which is a masked opening and another of which serves as a support for light-sensitive material, the inner envelope being slid over said support to enclose the material and the four panels of the outer envelope are relatively folded so that three lie successively over that contained in the masked opening, a flexible tongue extending from the upper edge of one of the overlying panels, a slot in the lower and remote edge of the inner envelope through which the tongue is passed, said slot being formed at the fold of a turned-over flap provided at the margin of one wall at the open end of the inner envelope.

3. A photographic package comprising inner and outer envelopes according to claim 6, in which the panel of the outer envelope that supports the light-sensitive material has at the region of the fold of that panel a distance strip secured to it which is equal in thickness to the total of the thickness of the light-sensitive material and a flap at the opposite edge of the panel that is. turned over an edge of the light-sensitive material.

4. A photographic package comprising relatively slidable inner and outer envelopes each having an open end and whereof the inner envelope serves to enclose the light sensitive material and the outer envelope has one wall formed as a mask through which the light sensitive material is exposed when the inner envelope is slidably withdrawn from the outer envelope, and comprising a flexible tongue on one envelope and a: loop on the other envelope through which loop the tongue will slide as the envelopes are separated for the purpose of exposure, which tongue and loop serve to limit said movement of separation and are located substantially wholly within the outermost enclosing walls of the outer envelope at least when the package is closed.

5. A photographic package according to claim 4 in which the rear wall of the outer envelope is formed at its upper edge with an inwardly turned flexible tongue engaging a loop on the inner envelope.

6. A photographic package according to claim 4 in which one wall of the inner envelope is formed at its lower edge with an outwardly turned flexible tongue engaging a loop on the outer envelope.

7. A photographic package according to claim 4 in which the loop isformed along a fold between one wall of an envelope and a flap provided at a free edge of the said wall.

8. A photographic package according to claim 4 in which the inner and outer envelopes are formed entirely by folding from thin sheet material.

NOEL PEMBERTON BILLING. ARTHUR GEORGE WILLIS. 

